


another round, please

by serendipitiness



Series: ficlet instruments [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Conversations over drinks, F/M, Family Bonding, M/M, Maryse Lightwood Redemption, Supportive Magnus Bane, Week 8: Drunk Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 22:37:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20553818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitiness/pseuds/serendipitiness
Summary: Magnus really never expected to have a mother-in-law, let alone the chance to drink with said mother-in-law at the Hunter's Moon.





	another round, please

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Regrets over last nights alcohol consumption not only because of the hangover. Did I really say that? Oh my god they're going to hate me now or think I'm ridiculous. (Spoiler: They don't.)

He’s never seen her drunk before.

To be fair, Magnus never saw much of her in _ any _ state at all until a year ago, but even then, she’s always been a soldier in control, a shadowhunter taught never to let loose.

Which is why it’s particularly spectacular right now to see Maryse Trueblood sitting in a booth at the Hunter’s Moon, cheeks rosy and spine slumped as she watches him bring a third round of drinks back to their table.

"You're certainly having a lovely night," he says, eyeing her with humor in his voice. "You didn't even have this much at my wedding."

Maryse snorts and picks up her new glass. Ruby liquid splashes onto her wrist. "I was too busy crying to drink."

"And I was too busy drinking to cry."

"Please," Maryse retorts, drawing out the sound. She points adamantly in Magnus’ direction. "You definitely cried."

He thinks back on that night, and how many times he’d blinked away tears into Alec’s shoulder every time he took a moment to breathe."I did," he concedes, and raises his martini.

The toast is quiet and peaceful, an echo of what their relationship has settled into. He visits her in New York, sometimes with Alec, sometimes alone. They chat over coffee, this halfway-there connection with all the fondness of family that will never quite forget the pain of decades past. Maryse is a different person now, and a loving mother.

And mother_-in-law_, Jesus. He takes a long, bracing sip of his martini.

“Anyway,” he starts. “You said the shop was doing well. Anything else worth sharing?”

She rolls her eyes at him. Her expressions are lax and exaggerated, and it’s never been clearer to Magnus where Alexander got it all from. “You’re not subtle, you know?” she asks.

“I never aim to be.”

Maryse throws her head back and laughs loudly, unrestrainedly.

"Things are good,” she answers, and holds up her hand, twisting her wrist and distractedly watching the way the light catches on the blankness of her skin. “You know, I’m not really used to it, but Lucian -- _ Luke’s _ been spending a lot of time talking me through it. He understands -- he doesn’t judge, just listens.” Maryse sighs fuzzily, then mumbles into her lap, a little secret thing: “Magnus, I… I think I love him.”

"Ah." Magnus opens his mouth stupidly, then closes it. “Have you told _him_ that?”

Maryse blinks. “No.”

“I think you should.”

“Me too,” Maryse answers determinedly, then continues to smile dopily at her mostly-empty wine glass.

Magnus taps the hand she’s laid on top of the table. “You deserve the joy you've found, Maryse.”

“I know. So do you, Magnus." She pauses, then, humming off-tune under her breath, and tilts her head. “Should we do a group date? With Alec and you and Isabelle and Simon? Maybe Underhill and his boyfriend too?”

Magnus chokes on his spit, and inelegantly wipes his mouth with his sleeve. “God. Small steps, Maryse. Small steps, _ please_.”


End file.
